One Halloween Night (SotDW)
by KeybladeDetweiler
Summary: The gang is ready for a night of trick-or-treating, but a dark entity may ruin their night. (Rated K for numerous mentions of death)
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Ortensia bustled around the house, readjusting numerous orange and black decorations as she did. It was Halloween, and everyone was getting together for a party that evening. The children were going to go trick or treating together, and after that would return for a few fun games that had been planned. She hoped that the evening would go off without a hitch. Everything was just about ready: the food, the décor, and the party games. The bunny children were off at another party for the evening, so the atmosphere was a little darker than it normally would have been. Ortensia had even given the children permission to do scarier makeup if they wanted to. However, she was squeamish at the thought of what some of them might do, especially Spinelli.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi had already arrived a few minutes ago, dressed as a unique looking trio made up of a vampire, gargoyle, and witch, respectively. Ortensia had immediately given candy duty to Riku, knowing that he was likely the only one who wouldn't snack on the treats. The trio were hanging out on the couch, watching TV. Riku kept an eye on the door, and Sora and Kairi lazily sat on the couch, starting to get a little tired of waiting for their friends. The three of them were holding handmade treat bags that Kairi had crafted herself.

"Don't worry." Ortensia said to them reassuringly. "You'll get to go out trick-or-treating soon, once everyone else arrives." She adjusted her costume, which was only a witch hat, before heading into the kitchen to check on the pizza she'd been baking. A few minutes later a loud groan could be heard.

"Gremlin Hyperion! I told you to watch the oven!" Ortensia cried. "Now the pizza's completely burnt; they'll never eat it."

"I'm sorry Ortensia; I got a little distracted." The Gremlin sadly looked down at his apron, which had a Mickey Mouse-shaped Jack-O-Lantern on it.

"We don't have a spare…we'll have to order out. I hope Tony's is open on Halloween…" the cat fretted, heading to the phone.

Meanwhile, back in the front of the house, there was a knock at the door. Riku looked at the clock on the wall.

"Five thirty and they're out already? Halloween keeps starting earlier and earlier." He said to himself as he got up to get the door. He grabbed the bowl of candy from the table near the door, and then opened the door.

"Trick or treat!" It was not a group of random trick-or-treaters, but six familiar faces. T.J. and company were standing there at the door, fully costumed, and barely recognizable.

"I could barely tell it was you guys." Riku laughed, scooping a handful of candy from the bowl. He put it in T.J.'s pillowcase. He then did it again, five more times, for the other five members of the group. "Happy Halloween."

"Wow, a whole handful! Thanks!" Gus said happily. He was dressed as Captain America, complete with shield. T.J. was Taran (From _The Black Cauldron_), Vince was Dash from _The Incredibles_, Spinelli was Vanellope Von Schweetz, Gretchen was dressed as Kim Possible, and Mikey was dressed as a bear.

Prescott suddenly popped in out of nowhere. "You'd better not give out handfuls to everyone who comes to the door, Riku; remember what Ortensia said." The Gremlin reminded him. Prescott was dressed as a fun-sized Captain Hook.

"I know, I know." Riku said. "But they're friends; I wanted to give them extra."

"Fine. But I won't hesitate to tell Ortensia if I catch you giving out handfuls to strangers." Prescott added with a small finger wag.

Riku rolled his eyes before saying. "Come on in. The others haven't gotten here yet, but Sora and Kairi are in there watching _The Legend of Sleepy Hollow_ short." He pointed his thumb back in the direction of the other two teens, who had heard the commotion and were calling the group over.

"You guys get any candy yet?" Sora asked as the group of six sat down on the floor in front of the large TV.

"Nope; no one's giving out candy just yet, except here I guess." T.J. said. He lifted up his pillowcase. "But we're ready to get tons."

"They'll probably start setting up in half an hour." Gremlin Gus said, entering the room as an aviator. "That's usually when the trick or treating starts."

"This whole holiday is a waste of time." Prescott rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you go work on the decorations outside, Prescott?" Gus asked, giving his fellow Gremlin a soft glare.

"Fine."

"Well, I hope the rest of the guys get here by the time trick-or-treating starts; I don't want to miss out on the candy." Vince said, fiddling with his mask.

Everyone turned their attention back to the short onscreen while Gremlin Gus headed into the kitchen to check on Ortensia and Hyperion, and Prescott headed outside to work on decorations.

In fifteen minutes, there was another knock at the door. Riku got up to answer it, and found that this time it was Dipper and Mabel. Dipper was dressed as a classic vampire; he even had a faux bite mark on his neck. Mabel was dressed as her idea of a witch: her dress and hat were black with orange trim, and orange glitter highlighted the end of her hair; her hair, hat, and dress were all covered with fake candy. The twins held matching pillowcases that they had decorated the night before.

"Happy Halloween!" Mabel cried, throwing her hands in the air as she twirled around, tossing glitter everywhere.

Dipper nudged her with his elbow. "Mabel, you're supposed to say trick or treat first, remember?"

"Oh yeah." The girl remembered. "I'm just really excited!"

The twins then cheerfully said "Trick or treat!" in unison.

Riku laughed before giving them each a handful of candy and welcoming them inside. "Nice costumes you two; old school, but still very cool. Sora and Kairi are a vampire and witch too."

Mabel's eyes grew wide, and she grabbed her brother's wrist. "Come on Dipper! Let's go see!" She quickly dragged her twin over to the couch where Sora and Kairi were, and the three of them (Dipper wasn't quite as enthusiastic) gushed about how cool it was that they matched.

Minutes later, Riku answered the door again. He found himself greeting a cloaked figure wearing a fedora and a white half-mask. He recognized the visible half of the face as Jordan's; the teen smiled at him. Then, Riku backed up to get a better look at the costume.

"Let me guess…" The white haired teen said, tapping his chin with his finger in thought. "You're a thief of some kind?"

"Sorry, no. I'm the Phantom of the Opera." Jordan replied with a small bow. "What are you? A bat?" He laughed.

Riku laughed. "Nope. A gargoyle." He replied, gesturing to the horns on his head that Kairi had made. He extended the bowl of candy to Jordan. "Help yourself."

The boy took a handful and tossed it in his pillowcase, then said, "Alex'll be inside in a minute." before looking back out the door and down the driveway.

Riku decided to keep the door open while they waited for the girl. Eventually, they saw her come up the driveway dressed as what appeared to be a knight, but without a helmet. She had her sword on her back, and her hair was down; she had a braid wrapped around the back of her head.

"She's Joan of Arc." Jordan said to Riku as he watched his sister come up the driveway. He headed out to help her after seeing that she was struggling a little bit. Soon, the Phantom of the Opera was escorting Joan of Arc towards the door. Alex tried her best to enter gracefully; however, she tripped over the bottom part of the doorframe. Luckily, her brother was still on hand to catch her.

"I wasn't expecting you to come dressed as a princess." Spinelli said, crossing her arms.

"Joan of Arc isn't a princess; she's a French war hero. And you know, I wasn't expecting to see you dressed as Vanellope Von Schweetz. I thought you liked dressing in scary costumes." Alex replied with a small smirk, crossing her arms.

"I decided to take a break from being scary this year. Sue me."

Alex then walked over to the couch and fell back onto it. Her legs went up in the process, and sneakers could be seen on her feet.

"Sneakers, huh?" Dipper asked, as he, Mabel, Kairi, and Sora sat back down on the couch beside her.

"I know; I'm cheating. But come on, they're more comfortable. And in my defense: they don't sell knight boots."

"Well, you could've at least had me make them look like knight shoes." Jordan said as he sat down on one of the couch's armrests. "So, what're we watching?" he asked.

"_The Legend of Sleepy Hollow_." Riku told him, squeezing himself back into his spot on the couch.

"Sweet." Alex said, putting her head on Sora's shoulder.

"Speaking of sweet, when are we gonna go out and trick or treat?" Spinelli asked impatiently. "I've been waiting for this all day."

Gremlin Gus suddenly came back into the room. "In a few minutes; don't worry Spinelli." He noticed that Dipper, Mabel, Alex and Jordan had arrived. "Ah, a vampire, witch, Joan of Arc, and the Phantom of the Opera, eh? Very nice."

Riku suddenly got up to grab the candy bowl, then brought it back over to the couch. "Here Alex, help yourself." He said, holding it out to her.

She took a handful, put it in her treat pillowcase, which had Joan of Arc's coat of arms on it, then said, "I think you might need to refill."

Riku looked into the bowl and noticed that it was almost out of candy, except for one piece. Before he could take the bowl back to fill it up again, Alex grabbed the remaining piece for herself. Riku laughed, and then headed back over to the table, where five extra bags of candy lay in wait.

Jordan then pulled a CD from his pocket. "Here," he handed it to Gremlin Gus. "A Halloween mix. I figured Ortensia would want some music, since this is a party...kind of."

"Thank you Jordan." The Gremlin replied. He looked at the track list. "The "Ghostbusters theme", "This is Halloween"…ah yes; this will be much better."

"Than what?"

"Ortensia bought a CD of Halloween songs, but it's extremely childish. I think they were for the bunny children, but she mentioned playing it tonight. This will make an excellent replacement."

The Gremlin went to put the CD into a player, and soon "This is Halloween" started to play. No one bothered to get up and dance, however, as they were much more interested in listening to Brom Bones tell the story of the Headless Horseman in song.

"Do you think we'll see the Headless Horseman tonight?" Gus asked. "I remember seeing him at the Halloween party at the park."

"Not unless someone's out there riding around in costume on a horse." Jordan said with a small laugh.

"Is that even allowed?" Kairi asked.

Ortensia suddenly entered the room, looking a little frazzled. She sighed when she saw the group of youths.

"Good, you're all here." She said with a small smile. "Except Jonny and Hadji; I didn't hear back from them, though. Anyhow, Gremlin Gus will be the one taking you out trick-or-treating tonight. Whenever he's ready, you can go." She then pulled the Gremlin aside to speak with him. "The pizza won't be here for three hours. I need you to keep them busy with trick-or-treating until then." She whispered to him.

The Gremlin raised his eyebrows. "You didn't order one of those giant ones, did you?"

"I had to. Hyperion let the others burn." She sighed.

"Hyperion's never been very good in the kitchen…" the Gremlin said to himself. "Well, all right then; I'll take them out for three hours. Their parents won't be happy about all the extra candy they'll get, though."

"Don't worry, Oswald will handle that. He always does." Ortensia replied with a small smile.

The group got together at the door. Just as they were headed out, they stopped dead. A robotic head, the head of the Old Hag from _Snow White_, had dropped down in front of them. Alex went for her sword, but stopped when Prescott stuck his head down next to the hag's.

"Prescott, what are you doing?" Gremlin Gus asked, folding his arms and tapping his foot in the air sternly.

"Working on decorations, just like you asked me to." Prescott replied smugly.

"Are these old Beetleworx parts?" Gus examined the "decorations". "You'll scare all the children! Imagine how many little ones will run away from here crying once they catch sight of these monstrosities."

"What else was I supposed to decorate with? Pumpkins? That's a waste of produce!"

"There are proper Halloween decorations in the attic. Get them down from there, then take these down and put those up in their place."

"Why should I? It's already Halloween."

Gremlin Gus rolled his eyes. "All right, fine. Ask Pinga to fix the decorations. You can hand out candy, since Riku is going out with the rest of us."

Prescott seemed to hate this idea even more than replacing the décor, but he begrudgingly agreed before heading inside to fetch Pinga. Gus and the youths then headed out to start trick-or-treating.


	2. Chapter 2

"All right, which way do we start? Left or right?" The Gremlin asked, adjusting his aviator goggles.

"Right. We can loop around the other way once we reach the end of the street." Jordan said.

"All right then. Let's go."

They headed down the sidewalk, and they hadn't even made it to the first house before bumping into two very familiar faces: Jonny and Hadji, dressed as Kristoff Bjorgman and Flynn Rider, respectively. Race then appeared behind them, dressed as comic strip detective Dick Tracy.

"Jonny! Hadji! You made it!" T.J. said.

"Ortensia said you weren't coming." Jordan added. "What are you doing here?"

"We didn't get her message until yesterday." Jonny replied. "We were gonna go to a Halloween festival, but when we heard about the party, we changed our plans." He smiled, adjusting the hat on his head.

"I like your Phantom of the Opera costume." Hadji complimented as he looked over Jordan's costume.

"You're the second person who's recognized me tonight." Jordan noted with a small smile.

"Jor, you need to accept the fact that you won't be very well recognized." His sister giggled.

The boy simply rolled his eyes in reply.

Gremlin Gus, meanwhile, spoke with Race.

"You think you can handle them all by yourself?" Race asked. "They can be a rowdy group."

"I'll be fine; they won't get into much trouble, I'm sure." The Gremlin assured him. "Besides, if I need any extra help, I have Riku."

"All right then; I'll head on over to the house. When do you expect you'll be back?"

"In three hours, at least. Ortensia wants them out of the house until the pizza gets there."

Race nodded, slightly surprised at how long they'd be out, before continuing down the sidewalk to the house.

"Who's Race supposed to be?" Vince asked, once the bodyguard was out of earshot.

"He said he's Dick Tracy, a detective of some kind." Jonny informed.

"All right everyone," Gremlin Gus announced. "Are we ready to continue on?"

"We can't really continue; we haven't even started." Dipper commented.

"We have!" Hadji said, as he and Jonny lifted up their pillowcases, which were just slightly heavy.

"How many houses have you guys hit?" Spinelli asked, surprised.

"I think five or six…" Jonny guessed. "Not sure."

"We haven't hit any." The girl was slightly jealous.

"You'll all get plenty of candy; don't worry. Trick-or-treating isn't a competition, you know." Gremlin Gus told them with a small finger wag. "Now, let's get a move on, while the night is still young!"

The group headed down the sidewalk and started their evening of trick-or-treating. They stopped at each lit house along the way, reciting the same phrase over and over in unison: Trick or treat. It became a pattern.

It soon grew dark. The part of the neighborhood that they were currently in was not very well lit; there were many dark homes, and only darkness lay in sight. Many of the group's members pulled out glow sticks they had brought along with them and snapped them to life. The small glowing lights, however, did not provide much illumination; just enough light to let them see one another.

"Did we go the wrong way?" Mabel asked, moving her glow stick around.

"We've been walking straight down the sidewalk; I didn't think there was a wrong way." Gretchen said, peering ahead into the darkness.

"Maybe we went too far and walked into a part of the neighborhood that doesn't celebrate Halloween." Jordan suggested.

"This is very odd." Gremlin Gus admitted. "But I'm sure there will be more houses with candy ahead. Let's soldier on."

They continued ahead, but did not make it very far when they felt a cold presence rush through them.

"Did anyone else feel that? That cold?" Dipper asked, shivering a little.

"Yeah. What _was_ that?" Jordan asked. "It's a little chilly tonight, but that…that was weird."

There was a _whoosh_ of wind, and the group turned their attention back to the path ahead of them. In the distance, they saw a strange, dim, orange glow.

"What's that?" Spinelli asked, looking at it curiously.

"A jack-o-lantern, maybe?" Kairi guessed.

"It looks like it's getting closer; it can't be a jack-o-lantern." Riku noticed. "What is it?"

As the glow got closer, they could begin to make out a shape. It looked like a hooded figure. The stranger continued gliding forward; it wasn't walking.

"A g-ghost?" Gus (Griswald) asked, stuttering. He quickly went behind Mikey, and shakily lifted up his plastic shield for protection.

Once it was about a foot away, the mysterious figure stopped. It lifted a long sleeve, and in another moment it's face was visible. It was a skull, with glowing gold eyes. Its sleeve fell back a little, and a bony hand was revealed.

"It _is_ a ghost!" Gus squealed, squeezing Mikey's costume tightly.

"Gus, be careful!" the larger boy chastised him.

"Sorry Mikey."

"A Heartless?" Sora whispered to Riku.

"Maybe." The older boy murmured. He asked the figure, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I…" The cloaked skeleton began in a raspy voice. "Am the bringer of death."

Everyone froze.

"The Grim Reaper?" Jonny exclaimed.

"Yes." The figure replied with a slight nod.

"W-what do you want with us?" Dipper asked, stepping forward a little. "Is one of us going to…die?"

The Reaper looked at him, slightly annoyed. "Why else would I be here? What, do you think; that I'm going trick-or-treating?"

"Who's kicking the bucket, then?" Spinelli asked, laughing a little at the apparition. "Is it Gremlin Gus? He's the oldest one here; it's probably about time for him to go."

The Gremlin shot a glare at the girl, after nervously glancing at the dark spirit.

"No." The Reaper answered. "It is…" he drew a long, raspy breath. "Him." He pointed a single bony finger at Riku, who fell back a little in shock.

"Me?" the young man asked, his voice strained.

The Reaper simply nodded.

"No way!" Sora stepped forward, extending his arms out to protect Riku. "Take me instead."

"Or me." Kairi went next to him.

"Take any of us." Alex came forward. "Don't take him."

"No. The only way he can escape his fate is…" the ghoul trailed off.

"What? Does he have to collect candy for you?" Mabel inquired.

"No." The Reaper sent her what looked like a glare. "He has to evade death for the whole night."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Riku asked, confused.

"I think what he means is that you have to run away from him for the whole night." Gretchen explained.

The Reaper nodded, confirming that what she had said was true. "Once it is midnight, you are safe."

"Sounds easy enough." T.J. said.

The Reaper then stretched his hand out towards Riku, and created a blue orb within it. The orb began to suck energy from the boy, who pulled back. The phantom laughed maniacally.

"What was that?" Hadji asked.

"He took…some energy from me." Riku gasped. "I feel a little weak."

"The clock is ticking." The Reaper hissed. "Run."

The group heeded him and took off, running past him and heading down the sidewalk. Once they had gotten a fair distance away, they stopped for a brief moment and found that the neighborhood around them was once again alight. Other trick-or-treaters were roaming the sidewalks, and the people at the houses were giving out candy, as per usual on Halloween.

"But…I thought this part of the neighborhood was dark." Gus recounted.

"It must have been the Reaper playing tricks or something." Jordan said.

"How are we going to stay away from him 'til midnight?" Kairi asked, nervous and flustered.

"We'll just have to keep ahead of him." Gremlin Gus declared. "We're already a good distance away from him, and if we move quickly and he doesn't cheat, we can still get our trick-or-treating done. Once we make it back to the house, we should be safe. As long as no one lets him in, of course."

"All right." T.J. went to the front of the group. "We've gotta go double time if we want to get our candy and outrun that creepy Reaper guy. So let's move, move, move!"

The group quickly went into action. They ran down the street together, hitting house after house. Their pillowcases got heavier and heavier as they went, and this slowed them down considerably. Soon, the Reaper was gaining on them.

"All this candy is weighing us down!" Dipper cried. "We're never gonna make it!"

"We have to keep going; we can't let him take Riku!" Sora said, determined.

"Sora, I can take care of myself." Riku cut in. "Don't worry about me; I'll get away from him."

"What are you saying, Riku?" Gremlin Gus asked.

"I'll go ahead and run back to the house. That way, he'll follow me and you guys can get your trick-or-treating done." He replied. "I don't want to completely ruin your night."

"It can't get much worse than it already is." Spinelli huffed.

"Well, try to salvage what's left of it. Ok?"

The group then came to a stop.

"You sure you'll be okay, Riku?" Kairi asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine, Kairi. Don't worry." The boy smiled at her.

"All right, Riku; if you're sure you can handle it." Gremlin Gus said with a nod. "Go ahead. Good luck!"

The boy handed Kairi his sack full of candy, then ran off down the street. The group watched him go, and then turned their attention back to the Reaper, who was behind them and getting closer by the second. Once he was upon them, the ghoul went right by and continued down the sidewalk in pursuit of Riku.

"It worked!" Jonny cried.

"Of course it did; he wanted Riku, not us." Jordan reminded him.

"I hope he makes it." Gus worried.

"Well, let's get back to our trick-or-treating." Gremlin Gus spoke up. "We still have a couple of hours before Ortensia wants us back at the house."

"She won't be too happy to see Riku back early." Spinelli snickered as they started down the street again.

"Once she finds out who's after him, I don't think she'll care too much." Vince laughed a little.

"The Grim Reaper is no joking matter." Gremlin Gus scolded them. "What if he actually did get ahold of Riku? You'd never see him again."

"That would be awful." Mabel frowned. "Riku's so cool; it's kind of scary to think that something like that could happen to him."

"It could happen to anyone."

A couple hours and numerous houses later, they were on their way back to where they had started. Their candy bags seemed to weigh tons. When they knocked on the door, a sour-looking Prescott greeted them. He was no longer in costume.

"Trick-or-treat." They all said tiredly.

The Gremlin rolled his eyes, and then gave them each one piece of candy. "Happy Halloween." He muttered.

"Oh, come on Prescott. Where's your Halloween spirit?" Gremlin Gus asked.

"And your costume. Where'd that go?" Alex added.

"It all left when I was hosed down by two hooligans and their high-power squirt guns. Skeens and Mundy, I think I heard their names were."

"Skeens and Mundy are out?" T.J. asked.

"Apparently so. You know them?"

"They're just some jerks from our school." Vince explained.

"Ah. I hope Ms. Finster takes care of them then." The Gremlin said before heading back inside. The group followed him.

"Riku came back surprisingly early; said he was being chased." Prescott continued. He laughed. "I thought he was braver than that, being a Keyblade Master and all. I suppose not."

They chose not to say anything of their encounter with the Reaper, and kept quiet.

Mikey's stomach growled. "Is the pizza here yet?" he asked.

"Ortensia just went out to pick it up. It might be a while, though, so in the meantime you can watch a movie. I'll be in the other room."

"I'm going to go change out of my costume." Gremlin Gus said to the youths. "I'll be right back."

They nodded, then went over into the TV room where Riku was. He had changed into some jeans and a Halloween sweater that Mabel had made, and was browsing through the selection of movies that were available for streaming.

"You made it!" Kairi cried as she and Sora ran over and flung their arms around him.

"Yeah; I think I managed to lose him by taking a shortcut." Riku replied, prying his friends off of him. "But it's not midnight yet; he'll probably at the door soon."

"Well, we're safe in here. As long as no one lets him in." Dipper sighed, somewhat relieved.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Prescott could be heard talking in the adjacent room:

"Nine o'clock at night and the trick-or-treaters are still out…" he grumbled. "Will this holiday ever end? Riku, answer the door and give them their candy."

The boy got up, grabbed the bowl of candy, and went to answer the door. He peered through the frosted glass to get a look at who it was (Or at least what they were dressed as), but stopped in his tracks once he had seen them. He quickly put the candy back and sprinted back over to the couch.

"Was it him?" Jonny whispered.

Riku nodded silently, his face paler than before.

"Who was it?" Prescott asked, entering the room; still as grumpy as ever. "Did they get their candy?"

Another knock sounded, exactly like the one before.

"Are they still there?" Prescott tapped his foot. He paused and thought for a moment, then continued. "You didn't answer the door, did you?"

"No." Riku whispered.

"Why not?"

No answer.

"Fine then, I'll answer it myself." Prescott huffed, grabbing the bowl of candy and heading over to the door to answer it. Before he could reach it, however, he was stopped by a mob of fourteen jumping on top of him almost all at once. They landed with a _thud_ on the floor.

_Knock_, _knock_.

"Get off of me _this instant_!" Prescott's muffled voice shouted from beneath the pile. "All of you! _**Now**_!"

Gremlin Gus, now in his normal attire, quickly appeared in the room after hearing all of the noise.

"What happened?" he asked, surveying the hectic scene.

"Prescott almost let the Reaper in!" Dipper cried, getting onto his knees and pointing at the door.

Gremlin Gus quickly looked to the door and was able to just make out the shape of the cloaked ghoul through the glass. His face whitened.

"What Reaper?" Prescott's head popped out from under the pile of youths. "What is all of this about?"

"Riku was confronted by the Grim Reaper on the street earlier." Gretchen explained.

"He wants to do him in." Jordan made a slight slitting motion across his throat.

"_The_ Grim Reaper?" Prescott was taken aback. He shook his head. "No. That's nonsense." He muttered. "Utter nonsense."

"It's true, Prescott! If Riku doesn't stay away from him, then he'll end up being taken by the Reaper. He'll die." Gremlin Gus explained. "I was with them when all of it happened."

"All right then…supposing this is all true…how do you know that's the Reaper?" Prescott asked. "It could just be another trick-or-treater _dressed_ as the Reaper."

"I saw his eyes." Riku said, speaking up from his seat on the couch; he was the only one that hadn't gone over to stop Prescott. "They were glowing. It has to be him."

"Well then…we'll just have to keep the door shut, won't we?" Prescott said, relieved to know that this meant the end of the holiday (At least for him).

"Yes." Gremlin Gus nodded. "Let's turn the porchlight off; that should let any remaining trick-or-treaters know that we're done for the night."

Everyone got up off of the floor to let Prescott get up. The Gremlin then flipped the porchlight off, and then took the bowl of candy back to the kitchen. Gremlin Gus took another look at the door; the eyes were still visible, glowing as eerily as ever.

The kids got back together on the couch to put on a movie, so they could distract themselves from the death that waited at their door. Riku scrolled through the titles, finding nothing good…or age appropriate.

"Is there anything we can watch on here?" he asked as he moved through the section marked "Halloween Movies".

"How about that one? It looks creepy enough." Spinelli said, pointing to a movie entitled _Shadow Stalkers_. Riku clicked on it, but a message popped up declaring that they were too young for it.

"Ortensia set up parental controls. Of course." Jordan rolled his eyes.

Just then, there was another knock at the door. Then, a voice from behind it declared, "It's me; Ortensia. I need help carrying the pizza."

The Gremlins went to let her in, and as soon as she was inside they shut the door and locked it tight.

"What's that all about?" she asked them, raising her eyebrows.

"Nothing; it's just getting late, and we want the children to be safe." Gremlin Gus said with a small smile.

"Well, there's a trick-or-treater out there on the doorstep dressed as the Grim Reaper. Why don't you give him some candy?" she asked the children, handing the large pizza over to the Gremlins.

In a flash, several shouts of "No!" emitted from the couch. The children quickly got closer together.

"What? Are we all out?" Ortensia glanced confusedly at the children as she asked the Gremlins about the candy supply.

"No, it's not that." Gremlin Gus answered. He then whispered all the details into her ear.

"Oh my!" she cried, once he had finished. "What can we do?"

"We have to wait him out, I'm afraid. He'll leave at midnight."

"All right then." To the children, she said, "Nobody goes out, understood?"

"We weren't planning on it." Alex replied with a nod.

Soon, the pizza was served. Alex, Sora, and Kairi went to change into more comfortable clothes and came back a few minutes later. Once they had all had their fill of pizza, they gave their plates to Ortensia and sat together around the coffee table, their pillowcases of candy at the ready.


	3. Chapter 3

"Time for the candy swap!" T.J. announced, lifting his candy into the air. He then put it down in front of him and began rummaging through it to get a look at his haul.

"How does this work, exactly?" Dipper asked.

"We take all the candy we don't want out of our bags, and then we trade it with each other. Easy." T.J. explained, taking a small package of gumdrops and putting them on the table in front of him. "Put all the stuff you don't want in a pile in front of you."

The group did just that. Riku continued scrolling through the movies; he had chosen to give his candy to Sora and Kairi, who were in the process of splitting it between themselves and sorting out the duds.

"Hey Ortensia, do you think you could turn off the parental controls?" Spinelli called out to the cat in the other room.

Ortensia walked into the room. "No can do. I don't need any of you getting nightmares after watching something too scary."

"Aw, come on. We can handle it."

"No you can't."

"She's right; we can't." Gus said quietly as he put a pumpkin cream-filled Winger-Dinger into his pile.

"Find something appropriate, or don't watch anything at all. Understand?" Ortensia asked firmly.

The group murmured their agreement, and Ortensia left the room again.

"Well, what'll it be? We have two choices: _Killer Bee Attack_ and _The Haunted House on Haunted Hill_." Riku announced. "Everything else is blocked."

"I vote for the second one; the Killer Bee movie doesn't sound very good." Jordan chimed in.

"Okay, that's one vote for the haunted house…what about the rest of you?"

Everyone voted for _The Haunted House on Haunted Hill_, except for Spinelli, who wanted to watch the killer bees.

"It'll be cool!" she said. "Come on guys; don't be such wimps. Bees aren't that scary."

"Sorry Spin; you're outnumbered." Riku selected the chosen move, and after a few minutes of loading, it started. They continued putting together their piles of tradable candy.

"So, what's this movie about?" Jonny asked as he stuck a homemade popcorn ball into his trading pile.

"The description said that it is about a man who invites ten people to his house, offering a cash reward for the person who can stay a whole night. Then, he starts scaring them away one by one." Hadji replied.

"Ooh, you're watching _The Haunted House on Haunted Hill_?" Ortensia asked, walking back into the room with a small white garbage bag. "Oswald and I went to see that back when it was released to theaters…it was very scary."

"Really?" Gus squealed.

"Well, scary at the time. We watched it again a few days ago, and we found the scares to be really very cheesy. It's still a good movie though."

"What's the trash bag for?" Alex asked, changing the subject.

"Any homemade goodies you might have gotten."

"Like this?" Jonny held up the popcorn ball.

"Yes. Put it in here, please." She held out the bag for him, and he tossed it inside.

"Why are you taking all the homemade stuff?" asked Vince.

"We don't know what's in them. Better to be safe than sorry; we don't need any of you getting sick."

"But homemade treats are always made full of love!" Mikey protested, holding tightly onto the popcorn ball he had gotten.

"Not necessarily." Ortensia took his popcorn ball and threw it into the bag. Then, she put the bag beside the table and said, "If you come across anymore homemade things or just plain bad candy, toss it in there. I'll be back to get it later." She left the room.

Dipper quickly tossed a plethora of Mr. Adequate Bars into the bag. "Good riddance." He said, wiping his hands on his cape.

Once everyone had sorted out their candy, they began trading as they watched the movie.

"He's taking her to the basement…she's dead." Jordan said as he handed a nougat filled chocolate bar to his sister, who gave him a caramel nut bar in return.

"Wait, he's killing them?" Spinelli asked, giving T.J. some fruit chews in exchange for some candy corn. "I thought Hadji said he was just scaring them away."

"Oh yeah. I meant to say, "She's gone."." Jordan corrected himself.

"It's the skeleton of Mrs. Holmes!" the woman onscreen cried before fainting.

"Poor Mrs. Holmes." Mikey wept for the fictional movie woman. "She never had a chance!"

"It's not her skeleton Mikey; it's fake." Kairi reminded him. "The guy really just scared her away."

"That's two…he's got eight more people to go." Vince noted. "I bet the guys are gonna be tough for him."

"He's probably saving them for last." T.J. added through a mouthful of chocolate.

"Why is he doing this, anyway?" Sora asked.

"Can't you tell? The guy's nuts!" Mabel pointed out. "I mean, listen to that creepy laugh he has."

Onscreen, the wicked man cackled maniacally.

"See?"

"Yeah. He sounds like bad news."

"Why did he pick these ten people, though?" Alex asked, laying her head on Sora's shoulder. "What's his motive?" She popped a sour candy into her mouth.

"I'm curious about that too. Are they people he hates? Or are they all members of the same family lined up for an inheritance of some kind. One that he wants to take for himself? There are so many unanswered questions here!" Gretchen added.

"He didn't say anything about being related to any of them." Riku noted. "I think he just hates them."

"He's a millionaire, and he's giving money to each of them as long as they stay in the house until morning." Jordan said. "Don't you remember from the beginning?"

"Oh yeah; and every time one of them leaves, he adds their money to the prizes for the others." Dipper recounted.

"So, there are two gone?" Alex asked.

"Yup." Her brother nodded. "And eight to go."

The group spent the rest of the night watching movies and trading candy, while the Grim Reaper still waited right outside their door.


End file.
